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Need to charge my new car

Need to charge my new car

Submitted by gcsmoore1 on Thu, 2020-02-06 13:30

I want to have some charging ability when my model 3 gets delivered in a few weeks to Fairbanks Alaska.
I'm told the car will arrive with a charge cable which has a connector-to-car end and presumably a standard 120v wall plug on the other.
Presumably this wall end unplugs from the cable and needs to be replaced by an adapter https://shop.tesla.com/product/gen-2-nema-adapters
I can't figure out which adapter I need.
The "adapter type" column does not match my memory of the package labels at Home Depot.
I was told to install a NEMA 14-50 receptacle but the one that looks most like that is named a 6-50 in the catalog.
Plugs are not compatible by design, so my chances of buying a "looks like it" only to find a form factor mi-match is high.
I am comfortable with working single phase electricity, but these transitions are always tricky.
I would rather buy a connector and cable with naked wires out the end and just hard wire it to my source.
Can this be done?
Thanks in advance for reading this far and thanks again if you can offer some insight into this charge conundrum.

reed_lewis |
6 februari 2020

A 6-50 and 14-50 are different connectors. You can google the connectors and see what each looks like.

It is not difficult to install an outlet and plug the portable charging cable into it.

The car comes with the portable adapter, but only with a 120V connector.

I recommend a 6-50 outlet as it is a three prong outlet.

TeslaTap.com |
6 februari 2020

The NEMA 6-50 has 3 prongs, and 14-50 has 4 prongs. The neutral line on a 14-50 is unused by the Tesla so either style will work. You'll save a small amount of wiring cost by going with the 6-50 (I use it myself).

If you want to hard wire it you can get a Wall Connector. It is $500. For the long range version you can charge slightly faster if you wire it for 60+ amps. Max charge rate for the long range is 48A which you can not do with a 50 amp outlet as they are limited to 40 amp continuous load and Tesla has farther limited the mobile connector to 32 amps.

Since you don't have the outlet yet decide if you want to use a 14-50 or 6-50. 14-50 requires 4 wires as it has a ground and neutral. A 6-50 only requires 3 as it doesn't have a neutral. If it is a new install I would go with a 14-50. Then buy the adapter and outlet that are the same.

Reasons for going with the 14-50 is it is more common so if you need to charge away from home it is more likely to find. RV parks typically have them although not all. You would already have the adapter and wouldn't need to buy both a 6-50 and a 14-50 adapter.

If you later decide to replace it with another EVSE or outlet you have the neutral if needed. If you only run the 2 hots and a ground needed for a 6-50 and later need the neutral you need to run a new wire.